He’d grown up knowing everything about the established stars he’d idolised on telly and the hopefuls he faced up to in junior events.

But now, four months before he turns 30, he finds himself scrambling for video footage of a new generation who are sneaking up on him fast — guys like Andrey Rublev, the 19-year-old son of an ex-Soviet army boxing champ, who stands between the World No1 and the third round here.

Murray admitted: “Now that I’m married and have a daughter and everything else, I have less time to watch video of matches than I used to — but it’s actually more important than before, because now there are a lot of players I don’t know.

“For instance, I’ve never played against or practised with Rublev, so I’ll spend as much time as I can watching footage of him.

“I’ve seen him once before, on TV against Mikhael Youzhny at the US Open a few years ago. He doesn’t hold back, you know? He hits a big ball. I thought he was very good, clean, ball striker, goes for it.

“But with guys like him, all you can do is watch TV or video, then see how different things are on the court and work things out from there.

“It’s a lot different from when I first came on the tour, because then I literally knew everyone.

“I watched loads of tennis on TV when I was a kid, so I knew all the top players and I’d grown up with players in Futures or the juniors, seen them around, which meant I knew everyone in qualifying as well.

“Now? There’s a whole bunch of guys I don’t know because of the generation gap, so it really matters that I still watch and study the guys I’m playing against.

“It’s part of my job, that’s why I’m here — it’s maybe not for long, 45 minutes or so, but I’ll never go into a match without watching my rival.”

It’s an attitude that tells you how class operators like Murray get to the top of the tree and stay there.

No job too small, no opposition too insignificant.

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Rublev may be ranked 156th in the world, with only that one US Open tie against Youzhny on his Grand Slam CV, but nothing gets left to chance by the man from Dunblane.

Watching him ease through a first tie against Ukrainian journeyman Ileya Marchenko in Melbourne’s searing Monday afternoon heat, you were reminded of just how priceless every point is to him
Here, in the opening service game of the opening match of the opening Major of the year, Murray somehow managed to serve not one, not two but THREE double faults and gift Marchenko a confidence boost.

The Scot cursed himself for his slackness and would do so again over and over, letting out yells of “WAKE UP!” and “IT’S A GRAND SLAM, GUYS, COME ON!” as the match crept on close to three hours.

Yet even then, the way he came through 7-5 7-6 6-2 proved something about the difference between the best and the rest in all top level sport.

That sometimes the best can afford to be off the boil and still win with room to spare.

Marchenko played out of his skin at times, but all it took were a few mistakes and Murray was on him like a grizzly bear on a salmon. He’d growled and scowled at himself like he so often does when things aren’t going right, sometimes turning the thousand yard stare on his coaches and family in the stands, like they could help.

But this is how he works. There’s something inside that won’t accept second best, a special something few in any sport ever manage to harness.

He said: “Sometimes, especially in testing in conditions like they are here, you feel a bit flat energy-wise.

“You’re just trying to get through it, you need to encourage yourself to have more energy, because the more energy you have the better you’ll play and the quicker you’ll finish.”

Meanwhile, Dan Evans, only gets called by his Sunday name when he’s done something wrong. So no wonder he shudders when he hears it Down Under.

The battling Brummie beat Fecundo Bagnis of Argentina 7-6 6-3 6-1.

But he can’t understand why locals only call him Daniel and said: “The only person who ever uses that name for me’s my mum — only when I’m in trouble, so she used it a fair bit!
“I don’t know why they call me Daniel here. I wish they wouldn’t.”